


The M.A.G.E Project

by BattleMaiden13



Category: Undertale (Video Game)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Soulmates, Alternate Universe - Underfell (Undertale), F/M, Fluff and Angst, Monsters have just emerged, Original Characters - Freeform, Reader Insert, Reader has mild depression, Reader has some issues, Slow Burn, Soulmate-Identifying Marks, Soulmates, Swearing, Underfell, Underfell Papyrus (Undertale), Underfell Sans (Undertale), Underfell monsters - Freeform, reader has anxiety
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-06-08
Updated: 2019-09-19
Packaged: 2020-04-19 17:53:53
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 3
Words: 9,604
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19137718
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/BattleMaiden13/pseuds/BattleMaiden13
Summary: The M.A.G.E Project was not considered something you sign up for if everything in life is going great. M.A.G.E Project stood for the Monster Assimilation (and) Genetic Examination Project. The government were trying to integrate monsters, who had only emerged from Mt Ebott a few months ago, into human society but due to their apparently violent nature and their ability to use magic no one was sure if it was safe for them to be around humans. So a test was proposed. For a full year, willing human and monster participants would live in an enclosed society together to not only test if the two species could live together but to also see if magic had any lasting effects on the human participants. Your life wasn't really great so deciding fuck it you sign up to room with two such monsters for the year. Only with your server anxiety and mild depression living with strangers is a lot harder than you first thought it be. The only thing that could possible make it worse is if you found your soulmate while on the experiment.





	1. Go Left

“I can’t believe you’re doing this, I can’t believe you’re making me do this!” You’re best friend Vanessa whined from the passages seat as you drove. 

“You had plenty of time to back out of it V” You reminded her as you took a right and continued your drive around the large mountain. The few boxes and small suitcase in the backseat of your black impala would jump around as the old car tried and failed to stay steady through the dirt roads. 

“There was no way I was letting you do this alone!” Vanessa yelled, sounded offended that you even thought she’d back out “First you hardly come out of the house and then all of a sudden you declare that you’re going to live with monsters. I mean how insane can you be. Not to mention Logan was worried sick. I mean I love the nerd but boy is he a worry wart” You took a glance at your friend as she admired the picture of a shield that adorned her shoulder. He soul mark, one left there by her soul mate Logan. She was so lucky to have met the nerdy boy in high school, although they are complete opposites, they really are the perfect couple. All soul mates are. As soon as your skin touches that of your soulmates a tattoo appears that show exactly what that person means to you. Logan was Vanessa’s shield, her knight in shining armour and she was his princess. You hadn’t met your soulmate yet, not that you were looking for them. You just figured you’d find them when the time was right or you just didn’t have one which wouldn’t be so bad.    
“Won’t Logan miss you?” you asked trying to take your mind off of your own love life

“Well yeah I hope so. I promised to call every day though and it isn’t like he can’t come visit, we just didn’t want to send you alone” She told you nudging your shoulder

“You two worry to much” You told her smiling at the sweet gesture. 

“Oh wow is that it?” You saw V sit up straight in the corner of your eye as you saw a military guard post come into view. You pulled up to the security window, showing the guard your passes. He told you to go forward to the town square than take a right, the addresses we were looking for where written on the passes. Seemed easy enough, you thanked him and he spoke into a walkie talkie located on his chest, telling some guard to open the big metal gates that were in front of you. You drove forward. 

 

The M.A.G.E Project was not considered something you sign up for if everything in life is going great. M.A.G.E Project stood for the Monster Assimilation (and) Genetic Examination Project. The government were trying to integrate monsters, who had only emerged from Mt Ebott a few months ago, into human society but due to their apparently violent nature and their ability to use magic no one was sure if it was safe for them to be around humans. So a test was proposed. For a full year, willing human and monster participants would live in an enclosed society together to not only test if the two species could live together but to also see if magic had any lasting effects on the human participants.  The humans had to get permission but they could leave the premises at any time during the year and theoretically could bring monsters out for day trips if they wanted and were escorted by officials. Anyone could also back out of the project whenever they wished . The government was having a hard time finding humans to participate, even with the hefty pay they were willing to give out. You were just getting sick of waiting around in your room for something, anything to happen. So fuck it, living with monsters for a year might just be what you needed to get out of your own head. Vanessa was just along for the ride, making sure that you didn’t end up in trouble. You get the feeling that the idea of monsters scare her and Logan, but she refused to let you go alone so she just gritted her teeth and signed up with you. 

You pulled up to the makeshift apartment complex. The whole town was a wreck, having fallen into disrepair a long time ago. It had been slightly repaired in order to house the year experiment and if anything became too dangerous than people would be sent in to fix it but other than that the town was pretty much on their own. The apartment complex in front of you would be Vanessa’s home for the year. She had opted for her own single apartment, not feeling the need nor the desire to have a roommate. You on the other hand said fuck it and signed up to be roommates with some monsters, getting nice and comfy up close and personal. You’d be living about ten minutes down the street in an old house with your roommates who you had yet to meet. All you knew were their names were Sans and Papyrus but that was literally it. You helped Vanessa unload her things from the car, it was most of what you had in the old thing, and helped carry them up three flights of stairs, because of course the elevator doesn’t work, to her new apartment. It was a small one bedroom place, and looked pretty well put together in your opinion. Vanessa screwed up her nose when you first entered the room so you figured she wasn't impressed with the place. 

“You can back out any time~” you sung as you put down the box in your hands

“Not on your life short stack” she snapped walking back out of the apartment to grab the rest of her stuff

“You’re only taller because of the heels” You yell back following her out. When you got to the forya a dog looking monster walked past you and headed towards the stairs. You tried not to stare but you couldn’t help it as your eyes seemed to follow them, watching as a key fell from somewhere on their person and clattered to the ground. You reached forward and picked it up saying “Excuse me” as you went, but the monster didn’t seem to hear you. You started to follow and tried to get their attention “Excuse me!” you tried a bit louder but they still pushed forward. You reached for them manage to tap their shoulder as you said “excuse me” for a third time. Only to be greeted with the monster turning around rather quickly and snarling

“What!” in your face. The were so close that you could have probably counted each individual set of razor sharp teeth, if you weren’t scared half to death. You took a deep breath before holding up the key

“Y-you dropped this?” you didn’t mean for it to sound like a question. The monster eyed the key for a second before growling and ripping the key out of your hand and storming off. Ok first impression of monsters in the flesh? Kind of rude. You took an exaggerated breath out to try to calm yourself before turning around and walking back down the stairs. It didn’t help as you could feel your hands shaking. You didn’t get that far before-

“Hey! Hands off buddy!!” That was Vanessa, something had set her off, not like that was hard to do but you figured you should probably go to calm her down. Walking outside you saw her standing in front of your black impala glaring daggers at what looked like a literal skeleton? And a giant fish? This would be interesting. You stood back and watch clutching your chest as you could feel your heart rate rise. 

“I WAS ONLY LOOKING HUMAN THERE’S NO NEED TO SHOUT” The skeleton huffed crossing his arms and looking away from V. 

“What you see with your hands or something?!” 

“You need to BACK OFF human!” the fish sneered taking a step forward and eyeing V up and down. You had to compliment V for her ability to not flinch away from the Fish monster, because you know for a fact you’re heart would have stopped and you probably would have fainted. She was very intimidating.  

“Uh, V-v?” you asked stuttering, walking closer to your friend. You didn’t like people yelling, and you were still shaken up from the monster upstairs. Your voice was quiet and when all three beings attention snapped to you, you could feel yourself jump back. “I-is s-s-something wrong?” you asked trying to keep your attention on your friend.

“Yeah! Skeletor here thought it would be real nice to run a clawed hand down the side of your car” She said stepping past the Fish to send a glare at the skeleton who only rolled his eye sockets   
“YOU’RE FRIEND NEEDS THEIR EYES CHECKED” He grumbled

“Says the guy with no eyes” V retorted

“WHY YOU-” The skeleton monster took a step towards V but stopped after you cut him off. 

“Seriously V was that it?” You let out a sigh, out of relief or annoyance you aren’t sure. Your heart rate began to slow again and the panic attack you felt building slowly began to fade. 

“But it’s Adam’s-” V stated turning to you, her face turning pink

“It’s just a car V, you worry to much” You said shaking your head. She seemed to back down a bit at your indifference towards the situation. Honestly the monster could of smashed in the window and you would have still been fine with it. It was just a car. 

“Sorry about that” You said finally making your way closer to the group “V here can be a bit-”

“Don’t you dare say bitchy!” V yelled cutting you off and making you wince and stop in your tracks.

“I was going to say passionate” you said offended she’d think otherwise

“Whatever” the fish grumbled before turning back to the skeleton “Come on Papyrus, you wanted to get back before that new roommate right?”

“Did you say Papyrus?” You said obviously perking up at the name “Like Sans and Papyrus?” 

“ALTHOUGH I HATE BEING PUT LAST ON A LIST WHERE THE ONLY TWO PEOPLE ARE ME AND MY PATHETIC BROTHER, YES I AM THE TERRIBLE PAPYRUS OF WHICH YOU SPEAK. OBVIOUSLY THE TALES OF MY GREAT EVIL HAVE TRAVELLED FAR IN THESE FEW MONTHS NYHAHAHA” You weren’t entirely sure how someone could have tales of their “great evil” and the idea kind of made you uneasy but you decided to go with it for now. 

“Uh cool, I’m uh, well I’m that new roommate that uh….” you trailed off as you got a closer look at the fish monster in front of you. She was tall with an eye patch covering her left eye, it wasn’t big enough to cover the entire scare below it as you could see it peeking out above and below it making you think that the eye patch wasn’t just a fashion choice. She had sharp pointed teeth and pale blue skin with vibrant red hair pulled back in a ponytail. She wore a ripped crop top with tight jeans and thick gloves that made her look like she had talons. You had to lower your eyes from her, already feeling panic beginning to rise in your chest again. 

“Captain Undyne” The fish monster said after a while, you couldn’t bring yourself to look up again but nodded showing you had heard her.

“WELL THEN, I WAS HOPING TO INTRODUCE MYSELF AT THE HOUSE BUT I SUPPOSE HERE WILL DO. HELLO HUMAN I AM YOUR NEW ROOMMATE, SECOND IN COMMAND OF THE ROYAL GUARD AND HEAD OF THE SNOWDIN DIVISION, THE TERRIBLE PAPYRUS!”  

The loud voice followed by the sudden appearance of a sharp red gloved hand in your vision, presumably held out for you to shake, caused you to let out a squeak and jump back. Fear clawing at your stomach causing you to breath fast trying to greedily suck in more oxygen. V placed her arm in front of you stepping forward and creating a barrier between you and the monsters. You couldn’t even look at the monster, how were you supposed to live with two of them again? This was a stupid idea, what had you been thinking?! There was no way you could do this. 

“If you even think about hurting her, I swear I will invert your rib ca-”  V’s voice snapped you out of your panic attack, she was standing up for you again just like she always did. Why did you always let them fight your battles. You could do this. You know you can do this. 

“I’ll be fine!” You interjected lightly pushing V out of the way and glaring at her, she needed to let you talk to people by yourself or you’d never get better. “Seriously V you worry too much, I’m not a kid.” you told her smiling to reassure her that you were ok now. You looked back towards the monsters, getting a good look at the tall skeleton for the first time. He loomed over you, wearing what looked like an old suit of black armour, or at least the chest piece of one that stopped just at the bottom of his ribs. The shoulders came to a sharp point as did his red gloves that ended just above his elbows. He was wearing skinny jeans and high boots as well as a tattered red scarf that could probably count as a cape. His hip bone, some of his spin, and upper arms were all exposed for the world to see. He had a gnarly gash running down his left eye socket and pointed teeth that you were pretty sure could tear through your neck.

“Uh , it's nice to meet you Papyrus. I’m” you swallowed out of nervousness “I’m Y/n” you put out your hand slowly and watched as Papyrus slowly moved his hand towards yours, making sure you could see all his movements in case he startled you again, before gently shaking your hand and letting it go.  “I, uh, know it isn’t that far but do you two want a ride to the house” you asked gesturing down the street. Papyrus turned away from you and crossed his arms seemingly indifferent towards it. 

“I SUPPOSE TAKING YOUR VEHICLE DOWN TO THE HOUSE IS NECESSARY SINCE IT HAS ALL YOUR BELONGINGS IN IT” He said simply

“Exactly, uh Vanessa will you be al-”

“I’m coming with you” She told you definitely

“Vanessa I’ll be fine, go unpack your boxes or something. Ring Logan, tell him we’re good” Vanessa just glared at you and after a moment of silence you relented “Fine get in the car” V took the passage seat and the two monsters climbed in the back seat. It was now empty since it was all V’s stuff. You hopped into the driver's seat and took a deep breath. 

“If you’re going to have another panic attack I can drive” Vanessa said coldly as she glared out the window obviously annoyed. You didn’t take it personally assuming it was because of the two monsters in the back seat. 

“I’m not going to have a panic attack!” you declared feeling the heat raise to your face, you quickly started the car to stop her from protesting it further. It was like a two minute drive and the monsters hadn’t attacked you yet so you figured you’d be fine! Probably. And you were, you did jump a bit when Undyne helpfully leaning forward to point out the small house that would act as your home for the next year, but Papyrus quickly pulled her back into her seat. 

“Ah can I just pull up in the driveway?” you asked not entirely sure where to park 

“Who else is going to use it?” Undyne asked giving you a look through the review mirror that told you she thought you were dumb. Of course monsters didn’t have cars, you were the only one in the household who could go outside the town with little to no effort.

“R-right!” you semi yelled, embarrassed about even asking about the driveway. You pulled in and cut the engine, allowing everyone to get out before following after. 

“Arg this is worse than the apartments” Vanessa whined as she looked up towards the small house

“Luckily you don’t have to live in it then” you said walking towards the trunk of the car and opening it to retrieve your suitcase.

“Is that ALL you got?” Undyne asked from over your shoulder causing you to jump before turning to her.

“Uh yeah?” It wasn’t really a big suitcase, you could see why she was confused by it, but you really didn’t know what you should of brought so you only ended up with one suitcase.  

“You’re. . . Weird” Undyne told you losing interest and headed towards the front door of your new house.

“HOW LONG HAVE YOU HAD THIS CAR HUMAN?” Papyrus asked appearing next to you. Well he didn’t appear, you were just watching Undyne and didn’t see him walk over to you

“Oh uh” you paused not entirely sure how to respond

“It’s her brothers, Adam’s” Vanessa said leaning against the passenger door and glaring at Papyrus. She had obviously been against you rooming with any monsters and you had just ignored her. You needed to be with people, that was the whole point. 

“HE’S JUST LETTING YOU USE IT?”

“Yeah. Well, something like that” You said lowering your suitcase to the ground and closing the boot of the car. 

Papyrus didn’t even hesitate to basically throw open the front door with such force that you physically winced as it banged against the inside of the house. 

“SANS, YOU WORTHLESS TRASH HEAP GET DOWN HERE AND MEET THE HUMAN” You weren’t even aware that Papyrus could get louder, yet here he was, causing a tight feeling to form in your chest as you tried to shrink back into your clothing. 

“comin’ boss” that was better. A deep quiet voice. You watched as the owner of said voice came out of one of the rooms to the left. Sans was also a skeleton monster, not that that surprised you Papyrus did say something about being brothers? What took you by surprise was his completely different body shape. Where Papyrus was tall and gangly, Sans was short and stocky. You almost go as far as fat but you couldn’t understand how a skeleton could be fat. He was wearing a thick black jacket with fur lining that looked super warm, a red turtleneck that also seemed rather warm, a pair of shorts with mustard colour stripes running up the side of the legs and sneakers that were undone. He didn’t have any visible scars like his brother although he did have a gold tooth that glistened with an eerie smile that hadn’t disappeared from his skull yet as well as two red lights floating in his sockets, acting sort of like iris’ in a human eye. At least that’s what you assumed they were for since they darted around as if he was looking at something. Specifically at the moment you.

“heya doll. names sans, sans the skeleton” Sans pulled out one of his hands from the pockets of his jacket at held it out to you. You had to wonder  if he just got cold easily with so many warm layers on but decided you’d find that out later

“It’s nice to meet you I’m-” Vanessa pushed in front of you and grabbed the short skeletons wrist before you had a chance to shake his hand, she pulled something off one of his fingers and held it up to his face. It was a hand buzzer, the kind you find in joke stores 

“Don’t ever, and I mean ever, do that shit to her ok? She will collapse in the floor in a panicked state and I highly doubt you are capable of dealing  with that chuckle fuck, so let’s make a deal, you lay a hand on her and I’ll break-”

“Vanessa!” You yelled. Sans was leaning away from the angry human in front of him obviously uncomfortable with the close proximity. Vanessa back off and Papyrus was shaking his head

“SERIOUSLY SANS!” He was scowling down at the short skeleton “I TOLD YOU WE HAD TO MAKE A GOOD IMPRESSION”

“sorry boss. i didn’t mean to  **shock** the kid” Sans said shrugging as he casually put his hand back in his jacket pocket

“MAKING BAD JOKES IS DOING THE OPPOSITE OF MAKING A GOOD IMPRESSION!” Papyrus screeched 

“say  **watt** boss?” 

“I SWEAR I WILL SNAP ANOTHER ONE OF YOUR RIBS SANS” 

“Maybe you should stay with me” Vanessa said eyeing the skeletons with great suspicion. 

“No!” You declared a bit to loudly glaring at V. “I’m fine V” you continue to have a glaring competition with your friend for a second before sheepishly turning to Sans “But uh she’s right. If you give me too much of a shock” Papyrus didn’t seem to like your choice of words but you pushed on “Then I will become a complete emotional mess of a human so uh can we, try to avoid that” you asked rubbing your arm up and down and avoiding eye contact until you notice movement. Sans had removed his hands from his jacket and held them up in a surrender pose. 

“i got it doll,  **hands off** ” He said giving you a slow wink. 

“SANS!” 

Undyne had to leave to get her own house set up but Vanessa stayed with you as the brothers, mainly Papyrus showed you around the house. It was pretty small, one kitchen, lounge room, bathroom/laundry and super tiny dining room down stairs. Each room were filled with boxes of the skeletons belongings that Papyrus assured you would be gone by morning. There were a fair few boxes so you weren’t sure if that was really possible but decided not to argue with him.  Upstairs were the three bedrooms and another bathroom that’d you’d all have to share. Papyrus and Sans had already chosen their rooms which was fine with you. Making decisions made you feel sick. You ended up with the room next to Papyrus and opposite the bathroom. Papyrus apparently liked having the room closest to the stairs and Sans just seem to want the room opposite his brother. The room had an inbuilt wardrobe next to the door and a mattress on the floor for you to sleep on. They left you alone to settle in and after reassuring Vanessa a million times that you’re fine and you’ll text her if something happens she finally agreed to leave. Leaving you alone to lie down on the bare mattress alone with your thoughts.  You weren’t sure if you had done the right thing. Living with monsters? You could barely function around humans. Your life had just been so bad for so long. Everything just seemed to be going wrong no matter what you tried to do to put things back on the right path. So you figured doing something completely different for the year may not be such a bad thing to do, turn your life in another direction. As Adam would say “If you can’t go right, go left.” And boy did you just take a hard left turn. 


	2. Scared me to death

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> You need to chill

You woke up the next day not in your house. This wasn’t your room, these mattress on the floor wasn’t your bed, these faded and peeling walls didn’t belong to you! You felt your chest tighten and your breathing becomes heavy. Had you been kidnapped? Did you drink last night?? Where were you? Who cares you had to get out! With escape being the only thing on your mind you stumbled to your feet before sprinting out of the room, tumbling over someone standing outside your door and hitting the floor pretty hard.

“Ouch” you groaned as you rubbed your arm

“geez kid, watch where ya fuckin goin’,” A gruff voice angrily scolded, it didn’t help with the panic at all as he sounded seriously mad “did ya at least have a **nice trip** ?” You looked up into the eyelights of a skeleton and it suddenly all came rushing back to you. You were fine, that was your room and you had just embarrassed yourself in front of your new roommate. You shot to your feet as Sans continued to scowl at you. “what no **postcard**?” he asked not taking his eyelights off your face. It took you a moment to register what he was talking about

“I didn’t trip over! That was a random gravity check!” you heard your voice squeak as you yelled and could feel your face turning red. Sans rolled his eyes. He was just standing outside your door, his hands secure in his jacket pockets. Evidently you running into him didn’t seem to make him move at all.

“Sure, whatever ya say. boss is callin a house meetin so ya better hurry down stairs before he comes up ta get ya himself” He tells you nodding down to the lounge

“Right!” you quickly turning around and practically sprinted down the steps. You must've been really exhausted last night. You didn’t come back out of your room after you went in, accidentally falling asleep instead. It was such a big change you went through yesterday that it was probably a shock to your system and you just needed to sleep. You’d need to get use to your new room, waking up to a panic attack was not exactly a fun start to the morning. When you got to the bottom of the stairs you rubbed away the tears that had been building in your eyes, you hadn’t even noticed. Taking this moment to just breath you also take note that you were in the exact same clothes as yesterday, you hope your roommates don’t think your a slob but thinking about it Sans was also in the same outfit he wore yesterday. You made your way to the living room and took notice of a few things right away. All the boxes had been unpacked and disposed of, they were no longer littered throughout the house, instead the contents seemed to be decorating the interior walls. It was a pretty impressive feat considering the wall now hanging above the decrepit fireplace only read 9 o’clock and since there was light filtering in through the window you assumed that was am not pm. The second thing was that Papyrus was also dressed in the same armor he was wearing yesterday and was standing in front of a poster board with markers in hand, tapping his foot impatiently. The third was that Sans was on the couch and looked like he was falling asleep. You could of sworn, no you're absolutely certain he was still upstairs when you sprinted away. There was no way he made it down here before you, unless he walked past while you were taking that moment to yourself. Were you in such a panic that you didn’t notice him? It wouldn’t be the first time something like that happened but you didn’t think the shock you go this morning was that bad was it?

“AH THERE YOU ARE HUMAN, I WAS AFRAID YOU’D FALLEN DOWN IN YOUR SLEEP OR SOMETHING” Papyrus’ loud voice snapped you out of your thoughts and you couldn’t help but think he wasn’t actually sincere in the comment he had just made as he waved his hand around dismissively.

“S-sorry” you heard yourself whisper as you looked to the floor.

“IT DOESN’T MATTER, TAKE A SEAT SO WE CAN CONTINUE WITH THE MEETING” you nodded and slowly made your way to the lumpy green couch taking a seat next to the dozing Sans who had prompt his skull up with hand “AND SANS I SWEAR TO ASGORE IF YOU FALL ASLEEP I WILL POUR BOILING WATER INTO YOUR SOCKET!”

“ **nappin** ’ ta worry about here boss”

“ENOUGH WITH THE PUNS!” Papyrus screeched, using his heights over the two of you to loom over his brother before standing up straight. “NOW, LET ME COMMENCE THE FIRST HOUSEHOLD MEETING OF THE YEAR. ON TODAYS AGENDA WE WILL DISCUSS, HOUSEHOLD RULES, ORGANIZE A CHORES LIST AND ASSIGNMENTS, ARRANGING A SET TIME FOR EACH FUTURE MEETING AND DISCUSSING WHAT TO DO IN THE CASE OF EMERGENCIES.” Papyrus said pacing back and forth as he spoke “ARE THERE ANY QUESTIONS!?” He asked the two of you directly. He was met with silence that he took as a no before continuing. In reality you don’t think Sans was listening and you were finding this whole thing just a bit overwhelming to say anything.

“ALRIGHT, THEN THE FIRST ORDER OF BUSINESS. HOUSEHOLD MEETINGS WILL BE HELD AT EXACTLY 9 O’CLOCK EVERY MORNING ON THE DOT! BEING LATE WILL RESULT IN A SITUATION ARE WE ALL IN AGREEMENT?”

“You want to hold a household meeting every single morning?” you asked taken aback

“IS THAT A PROBLEM?” Papyrus asked turning to you with a raised brow bone.

“Uh” you swallowed to try and quench your throat that had suddenly become very dry as the rooms attention was suddenly drawn to you. It didn’t help.  “It’s just that uh, w-well, if we have a m-meeting every single morning there isn’t going to be much to talk about” You pulled your legs onto the couch and wrapped your arms around them as your voice slowly got quieter “if we have one once a week that would work better, then if an emergency comes up we can just hold an impromptu meeting to deal with that?” you didn’t mean for it to come out as a question but that’s what it ended up sounding like. You felt yourself shrink under Papyrus sockets as he didn’t take them off of you.

“ALRIGHT, HOUSE MEETINGS WILL BE HELD ONCE A WEEK, EVERY MONDAY MORNING AT 9 O’CLOCK WITH THE ACCEPTION OF EMERGENCY MEETINGS THAT CAN BE CALLED INTO ACTION AT ANY POINT IN TIME THERE IS DEEMED A HOUSEHOLD EMERGENCY. WILL THIS BE SUFFICIENT?”

“sounds good boss” Sans answered through a yawn and you nodded as that was the only thing you could bring yourself to do.

“EXCELLENT, MOVING ON TO THE SECOND THING ON THE AGENDER”

The rest of the meeting continued with Papyrus doing most of the talking as he went through everything on his agenda in probably more detail than was necessary. You were assigned to help Papyrus with groceries and clean the floors every week as well as keeping your own room tidy and belongings out of the way in the chores assignments. There was a long lecture about what to do in different types of emergencies, that your pretty sure Sans napped through and a curfew set for 11 o’clock each night. You didn’t really get why you needed a curfew but you weren’t expecting to be outside that late anyway so it wasn’t really that big of a deal. Lastly a set of initial house rules were set up all pretty standard stuff for a total of ten rules.

  1. No entering others rooms without permission
  2. Weekly chores were to be carried out to a high standard
  3. No loud noises (music, yelling, ect) after 9pm or before 7am
  4. Everyone must be home before curfew
  5. All household members must keep up their personal hygiene
  6. All planned visits from others must be communicated to your roommates
  7. You must tell someone where you are going each time you leave the house
  8. Do not leave your belongings lying around
  9. All house repairs and improvements must be approved by housemates
  10. Stay within your own personal space unless other parties state you can encroach on theirs



Any rules that were broken as deemed by the other two roommates would result in an agreed upon punishment by the affected party. So if you broke a rule and both Sans and Papyrus agreed that you did in fact break the rule, they would choose out a suitable punishment. Same went for if either of them broke a rule. Some of the rules just made Papyrus seem a bit like a worry wart to you, like telling others where you’re going and the curfew but you suppose they all sounded ok with you. Monsters old lives were difficult, all humans knew this even if you didn’t know the specifics, so you really couldn’t blame them for being cautious and in fact some of the rules made your own anxiety lessen. Each rule had been written clearly on the poster board as Papyrus basically dictated them to you. The weekly chores and who was assigned to them had been written on a different board earlier in the meeting.

“WITH ALL MATTERS ADDRESSED THIS CONCLUDES THE FIRST HOUSEHOLD MEETING” Papyrus declared, closing off the meeting, close to three hours after it started. “HUMAN WE CAN NOW BE GOING” Papyrus said addressing you as he straightened up the tattered scarf around his neck

“What?” you asked confused. You don’t remember Papyrus saying anything about the two of you going anywhere although there had been a lot of information being thrown at you so perhaps you just missed it? Judging by how Papyrus sighed and began tapping his foot impatiently you assumed you were right in that assumption.

“REALLY HUMAN? IF YOU EXPECT TO EAT TODAY THEN WE MUST GO AND ACQUIRE FOOD, ONE OF YOUR WEEKLY CHORES” The way he said this made it seem like he thought you were an idiot.

“Right! Groceries. Uh, I’ll grab my keys” you said beginning to head to the door. You were not mentally prepared to go out today. You had to hold your own hand in an attempt to get them to stop shaking. You knew you’d have to go out eventually, you didn’t exactly agree to do the groceries when Papyrus brought it up but you also didn’t argue out of fear of being yelled at. You absolutely didn’t expect to have to go out today!

“WHY WOULD YOU NEED YOUR KEYS” Papyrus’ irritated voice made you halt at the door and turn back to the two skeletons.

“To…. to drive?” you said not entirely sure of yourself

“IT ISN’T THAT FAR HUMAN WE CAN WALK!” Papyrus yelled making you feel like an idiot, you jumped back and clutched your arms close to yourself and you tried desperately to get your heart back to a normal beat. Yelling always got you, coupled with you having to go out in public you were just filled with dread. An eternity seemed to pass before Papyrus spoke again, this time speaking slower and softer.

“WOULD YOU RATHER SANS ACCOMPANY YOU?” The almost kind nature of which he spoke make you snap your attention up. You weren’t even aware you had been staring at the floor.

“What? W-why?” Did Papyrus just not want to be around you? Had you made such a bad first impression that after one day he wanted nothing to do with you? Did he really think you were that pathetic? Of course he thought you were pathetic! Look at you cowering in the doorway, he probably wanted nothing to do with you! You couldn’t blame him, you wouldn’t want to be around you either.

“cause ya look like ya about to cry kid” Sans filled in. the tight knot that had been building your chest slowly loosened as Sans words slowly registered in your brain. Crying? You reached up and felt a tear streak down your cheek. Damn it. You quickly dry your eyes off as the knot in your stomach disappeared with them.

“Sorry I, that was, sorry. Papyrus I’d be happy if you accompanied me grocery shopping” you said mustering up a small smile as you clutch your arm into yourself.

“ARE YOU SURE?” He spoke slowly making sure to keep eye contact with you.

“Yeah, let me just, i’m just going to grab a jacket. I can, i’ll meet you outside.” Papyrus nodded and you turned on your heels and headed up to your room. Grabbing a jacket and chucking it over your clothes you went to go outside only to meet Sans at the bottom of the stairs. You gave him a polite nod before continuing towards the front door.

“maybe ya should quit kid” You felt your heart sink as Sans spoke. The sentence made you stop in your tracks and turn back slowly to face the skeleton. He was casually leaning against the wall. A grin still plastered onto his skull but his eyes seemed almost tired, judging you.   
“What?” your voice was quiet and you could hear the pleading in it yourself. You were silently praying that maybe you misheard.

“the experiment, ya should quit. ya obviously terrified and m’ not one ta babysit, ya should quit” Sans spoke slow and deliberately making sure you could hear every word.

“I don’t-”

“come on ya can’t be that fuckin’ stupid even for a human. ya already cried twice today. ya ain’t cut out for this. ya should quit” He said it so calmly, like it was the obvious thing you should be doing.  Quit? Just like that? After just one day? No, no way. You weren’t going to give up that easily, you needed this. How were you supposed to get any better if you didn’t push yourself. You wanted to go back to how it use to be, your going to go back and this fat ass skeleton is not going to convince you otherwise. There’s no way you're quitting after one day! You’re going to see this through to the end! You had to for yourself. You felt yourself clench your hands into tight fists and let out a short joyless laugh.

“Heh, you’re right Sans, I’m fucking terrified. Living here with strangers, having to force myself out of my comfort zone almost every second, being around littereal monsters. Anyone would be scared but I’m not quitting, there’s nothing you can say or do that’s going to make me want to quit. I’m going to do this even if I cry every day, even if it ultimately doesn’t help with my anxiety, I need to do this. I might not get better, hell for all I know I could get worse, I know I'm going to be scared and have just a metric ton of panic attacks and bad days but I am not leaving. You’re stuck with me. And besides anything I’ve ever done that ultimately was worthwhile initially scared me to death. I don’t think this is going to be any different”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey! if you don't know me maybe try checking out my tumblr?  
> [Check it out here!!](https://battlemaiden13.tumblr.com/)  
> I answer a lot of Imagine Asks about different things (mainly skeletons) Post/Reblog fan art people have kindly made me and just chill. 
> 
> M.A.G.E is going to, well I'm going to try, and update every second week.


	3. A Horrible Mistake

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> This day could of been worse

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> did I say two weeks? ops guess that's not happening. My bad

Your walk into town with Papyrus was pretty quiet. You didn’t know whether or not to be thankful for this though as it did give you some time to sike yourself up to be around people but perhaps a conversation would of made the perfect distraction from the swarm of butterflies in your stomach.  Eventually you decided it was a lose lose as you doubted you would feel ready for this. You usually had your groceries delivered to you to avoid going out like this but the whole point of why you signed up was to step outside your comfort zone so maybe this would be a good thing? Either way you tried to push those pesky bugs down as the two of you made it to the main shopping part of town. Just like the rest of the experimental town this shopping district was old and decrepit with fallen debris off of buildings littering the street and vines climbing up the shop walls.  Half of the stores weren’t open and most that were, had set up booths lining the street instead of being inside, probably for safety reasons. There were a few human stalls set up but from first glance it appeared like most of them were monster owned and run. The few that were Human all appeared to be food stalls of one type or another. Half way down the street Papyrus stopped in his tracks causing you to run into his back.

“HUMAN WATCH WHERE YOU ARE GOING!” He yelled crossing his arms and glaring down at you. The yelling was not helping you right now. You took a deep breath in before looking up into the empty sockets of the tall skeleton.

“S-sorry Papyrus. Uh, why…. Why’d we stop?” 

“I THINK IT WOULD BE MOST EFFICIENT IF WE SPLIT OFF FROM HERE. I WILL ACQUIRE FOOD FOR MY BROTHER AND MYSELF AND YOU CAN GO GET YOUR OWN FOOD FOR THE WEEK”

“Can’t we just get the same food?” 

“I SUPPOSE WE COULD. HUMANS ARE SAFE TO CONSUME MAGIC, I JUST ASSUMED YOU WOULD BE MORE COMFORTABLE EATING NON-MAGICAL INFUSED FOOD”

“Wait, your food is magic infused?”

“OF COURSE IT IS” Papyrus snapped, his tone told you that he thought the question was stupid. “MONSTERS CAN’T SURVIVE ON YOUR MEALS, WE DIGEST THE MAGIC WITHIN FOOD ITEMS TO KEEP US ALIVE. OF COURSE WE CAN EAT YOUR FOOD BUT IT DOES NOTHING BUT FILL OUR STOMACHS, WE CAN’T GET NUTRITION OUT OF IT.”

“Uh r-right! Um and magic is, safe for humans?” you were thinking it was probably best if you went and got normal food but the idea of having to go off alone sent your breathing into a spiral of panic. 

“IF YOU’RE WORRIED ABOUT THE SIDE AFFECTS DON’T BE. THERE SHOULDN’T BE ANY PERMANENT ONES” Papyrus told you crossing his arms over his chest and looking away from you seemingly annoyed at your constant state of panic, not that you could really blame him for this but he’s wording really wasn’t helping.

“Permanent effects? So they’re will be effects?!” you squeaked

“ONLY IF THE MAGIC INTENDS IT, SUCH AS HEALING OR ONE OF THOSE STUPID DRINKS FROM GRILLBY’S. IF IT BOTHERS YOU THAT MUCH ASK SANS ABOUT THE SCIENCE BEHIND IT. HE KNOWS IT ALL” Papyrus said waving you off as he glanced in the direction of a monster food stall, no doubt going through a list of what he’ll need. You thought for a  moment trying to decide what to do but both options seemed bad. On the one hand, you'd have to go off alone and talk to strangers as they judged you based on what food you wanted for the week. On the other hand you’d have to eat magical food all week with possible effects that could be harmful. Both seemed not great. As you stood there frozen trying to make a choice quickly and failing you felt someones hand on your shoulder causing you to let out an embarrassingly large yelp and jump away only to see V smiling at you.

“Woah chief! Calm down it’s just me” Vanessa glanced at Papyrus who you now noticed was impatiently tapping his boot against the ground. “Do you need a hand?” She asked turning back to you.

“Uh. yes, Yes! Ok uh, Papyrus you go and do your thing and V can help me out. Is that ok?” 

“IT’S ACCEPTABLE” He sneered, striding away from you without hesitation. 

“What’s wrong with him?” V asked crossing her arms and glared at the monsters retreating form

“I think it’s me” 

“Why? Did you steal his funny bone or something?” 

“No, but he’s seen me have like three panic attacks today.” You told V defeated as the two of you began to head towards the more human populated area

“Only three?! That has got to be like a new record!” 

“Hey I’m not that bad!”

“Yeah you are. I have no idea why your even out today. I assumed you’d be sleeping” you stopped walking and watched as V turned back to you a confused look crossing her face

“What?” your voice was quite

“Oh come on, you know your panic attacks can be a lot for anyone to handle. I was just saying that after the big day yesterday, I assumed that you’d be taking a break for a while is all” V stated rolling her eyes. 

“Oh my god. You think I should quit too don’t you!” You yelled accusingly and mad, V was supposed to be your best friend, why wouldn’t she just believe in you this one time. It wasn’t that big of a stretch for you to be out today

“What? No! You said you wanted to do this and I tried to stop you a million times before it started, there is no way I'm letting you quit now!” 

“Huh?”

“If you quit now I will never forgive you. We’re in this together. Until the end, whether you like it or not. Seriously you put up such a fight about this whole thing and I don’t know. Maybe you’re right, maybe it could be good for you.” She told you annoyed. “Maybe” 

“Right. Well good because I’m not quitting”

“Good”

“Good”

“Great”

“Fantastic” there was a pause of silence before Vanessa spoke up again

“Who told you to quit?” she asked, her voice softer than it was moments before.

“Sans.” you told her sighing “I can’t exactly blame him though, he made some good points. But you know me, never been one for doing stuff others told me to” you said smiling widely 

“Stubborn till the bitter end.” V agreed with you as she threw one of her arms around your shoulder. “Let’s do some shopping!” 

The two of you spent the next hour picking up food and other essentials that you thought you’d need for a week. After you were done you met up again with Papyrus and Vanessa went on her own way, saying she had something she needed to do. You assumed that Papyrus and yourself would just head straight home but Papyrus had different plans. 

“IF YOU’LL EXCUSE ME I NEED TO SPEAK TO SOME OTHER MEMBERS OF THE GUARD” He told you gesturing in the direction of some dog looking monsters

“Right, I’ll uh wait here?” 

“IF YOU AREN’T GOING TO GO HOME THAN AT LEAST MAKE YOURSELF USEFUL. GO OVER TO THAT STALL AND ASK FOR THE SKELETON BROTHERS USUAL” Papyrus told you, pointing over to a bunny monster with a large scar running over their mouth, as if someone tried to rip off their jaw but didn’t quite manage it.

“What? I can’t-” You tried to protest but Papyrus ignored you as he walked away. You turned back to the bunny. It’d be ok, all you had to do was go talk to the monster. No big deal. You took a step and froze. You couldn’t do this, you felt dizzy, your eyes became blurry and you could feel your breathing becomes rapid. Everything seemed to get unbearably loud and quite all at once. You felt your heart pounding in your chest. This was stupid, it was a simple request. You were stupid, how could you let this phase you, you couldn’t even make it three steps closer to the monster! How pathetic are you. You so worthless. Someone was trying to talk to you but you couldn’t hear them. An overwhelming feeling of nausea washed over you and you grabbed your  stomach. It wasn’t until someone gently began talking to you that you slowly began to calm down.

“It’s ok, you’re safe. There’s nothing to worry about. You’re doing great” they repeated this over and over. The gentle sound of their voice helped. Your breathing returned to normal, your vision returned and you could hear again. You became aware of a hand gently placed on your shoulder and soon realised who the voice belonged to.

“Undyne?” you asked looking up into the golden eyes of the fish monster you met yesterday. She gave you a toothy grin nodding

“Hey human, you feeling better?” you thought about it for a moment before nodding slowly. Undyne removed her hand from your shoulder. “PHEW, you gave Papyrus here a right scare human!” her voice had returned to the loud boom that it was yesterday as she hit the skeleton on the back with an echoing clang. Papyrus looked annoyed. His arms were crossed over his chest plate and he was sending you a death glare that made you take a step back.

“Ignore him.” Undyne said, throwing an arm around your shoulder to prevent any further attempt at escape before leaning down and talking quieter “He’s just upset cause he couldn’t snap you out of that little episode.” She stood up straight and made a show of flourishing her free hand as she said “Luckily I have some experience when it comes to stopping panic attacks” 

“I’m sorry about that?” you said, not really sure how else to reply

“Pft! DON’T be!” Undyne told you pushing you slighting. The force made you stumble a bit but you did manage to stay on your feet. “My soulmate has bad anxiety! Wouldn’t even leave her lab underground” A soft smile fell over the fish monster expression

“You’ve met your soulmate?” you asked, always curious about soulmates.   
“Yeah. CHECK IT” Undyne held out her wrist for you to see. On either one was a different looking symbol, yellow hexagons with some lines coming off of them. “They’re the symbols for  Serotonin and Dopamine. Alphys, that’s her name, she says that their the chemicals that make you happy! She’s SUPER SMART” 

“Wow. That’s really cute”  Undyne smiled holding her hands in front of her as she smiles at the symbols

“Yeah she is” Letting her hands fall to the side she continues “Alphys has a hard time interacting with people so she doesn’t come out much but maybe it’ll be good for the two of you to meet. I’m sure she has like A HUNDRED questions on humans and she’d be more than happy to answer any you have on monsters” 

“She’d. You think, well, would she want to talk to me?” You asked nervous about the idea of trying to talk to another monster

“She’d come round to it and I can be there two if you want. HELL WE CAN EVEN DRAG PAPYRUS WITH US!”

“NOT INTERESTED” 

“You don’t have a choice! How about I bring her around later this week?”

“Uh Well. . . “ you looked to Papyrus, not really sure if you were silently asking for help out of this situation or permission to invite them over. To bad that Undyne piped up before he had a chance

“It’s decided! We’ll be over later in the week!” Papyrus let out a sigh of what you could only assume was defeat as he didn’t try to argue with Undyne. It seemed odd to you just how nice this scary looking fish monster was treating you but as the three of you walked back to the house you narrowed down the reasons why she could of been. One she felt sorry for you, two you reminded her of her soulmate and she generally wanted to help, three it was a trick to get something she wanted for you, or four she helped you so then you’d owe her in the future. You wanted to believe it was option two but something in your gut told you that that wasn’t the case. 

  
  


**Earlier that day at the house**

Vanessa Lewis had always been very protective of her friends. People saw her as a bitch because of it, she would get mad easily and throw tantrums if she didn’t get her way making most people avoid her, unless they were after her father's money. Because of this she didn’t have many people she could call real friends but you were her best friend since high school. She saw you go through so much turning you into the anxious ball of fear you were now and she refused to let anyone bully you no matter what. You didn’t deserve it after everything you’d been through. Which is why, when she heard what that short, fat, ugly ass skeleton had said to you that morning she had stormed over to the house and slammed the door open to give him a piece of her mind. It didn’t take long for her to find him, napping away on the couch without a care in the world. She picked up one of the throw pillows that had been closest to her and threw it directly at his skull yelling as she did. 

“Where the hell do you get off tell Y/n to quit after one day!!” the impact of the pillow hitting his skull and the sudden yelling caused Sans to groggily glare at his attacker as she stood with a scowl on her face and her hands on her hips. 

“what the fuck lady?!” he yelled back annoyed that his nap had been cut short

“Why did you tell Y/n to quit the project!!” Vanessa yelled again, getting more annoyed as time went on. She had been silently stewing since you mentioned it earlier that day and now she had someone to direct the anger at. 

“the kid?” Sans asked, more to gain time for himself as he tried to figure out what the fuck this crazy human was yelling about. It didn’t take too long to click.

 “they’re obviously terrified. if they stay now and choose ta quit halfway through it could be worse for us monsters. it’s better if they leave now”

“No it wouldn’t!” Vanessa argued “If she quits the project now, after it’s officially begun, the rest of society is going to think that monsters aren't safe around people with anxiety or mental illness. You won't be allowed in human hospitals or other public places that cater to the disabled then. that would be a serious blow to monsters this early on!” Sans was taken aback with how this human seemed so willing to argue with him on this. They had obviously been thinking about it for a while too with what they had to say but Sans didn’t think they were right at all in this case. 

“alright so she stays for what? a month, maybe two then ‘er panic attacks get so bad she has trouble breathing, spirals inta a depression, can’t leave ‘er room and has to be forcibly removed from the project. that’s gonna look so much better on us right? not only can we not live with people like ‘er but we make it worse. plus ya got it wrong. no one is gonna put it against us if someone with mental illness decides to drop out in the first week cause it was just a bit too much for them ta handle. the longer they stay the more like it was us who made em that way because afta a few weeks they shoulda known what it was like here so the excuse that it became to much won’t sit with people at all.” Sans sneered. He knew this project wasn’t going to be easy for a healthy person, he didn’t even think someone like you would try and sign up, but he knew it was going to be hell for you. Monsters were mean and rude and there was no way you’d last here without getting worse and in the end that would be on them. He didn’t want to keep being trapped because some humans thought that their one chance of freedom was a fun game to see how much fear they could handle. Vanessa racked her own brain for an argument but knew ultimately this monster was right. If you dropped out now no one would really bat an eye, but the longer the experiment went on the worse you dropping out could be for these monsters. Vanessa let out a sigh, she knew this argument didn’t actually matter in the end. You were way too stubborn to drop out no matter how bad you got.  

“It doesn’t matter anyway. Honestly you don’t have anything to worry about. She isn’t going to leave”

“that ain’t necessarily a good thing” 

“Yeah I know but I think this is going to be good for her. A way to step out of that prison she's created for herself. Maybe even go back to how she was. Just don’t tell her to leave again ok? The more you pressure her into that the worse she’ll be, just let it go. She isn’t going anywhere” Sans took a moment to eye the human standing in the living room arch way. She looked sad talking about her friend but it was obvious she cared and was trying to help her.

“yeah whatever. i won’t bring it up” he told her dismissively waving her off, really just wanting to get back to his nap. 

“Right, I’ll go. You should really lock your door though, honestly I just walked right in here no problem” Sans seemed to laugh at this a bit, a laugh that really didn’t have any humor behind it.

“why bother locking ya door when the scariest thing is already inside” the smile that he sent Vanessa was twisted, he’s eye lights had disappeared, he looked broken and not for the first time since they had rocked up Vanessa felt as if the two of you had made a horrible mistake. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey did you know about my tumblr?  
> [Check it out here!!](https://battlemaiden13.tumblr.com/)  
> 


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